Johannesburg – Banks led the JSE lower in the opening session on Tuesday as the All-Share [JSE:J203] index continued to consolidate after a strong start to the new year.
At 9:44‚ the All Share index was 0.34% lower to 39 853.89 points‚ with the Top 40 - (Tradeable) [JSE:J200] index shedding 0.43% to 35 414.29 and banks losing 0.72%.
“On a technical basis‚ the market still looks overbought‚” said Ferdi Heyneke‚ portfolio manager at Afrifocus Securities. “The reality is setting in after some of the stocks were pushed up on expectations of higher earnings but disappointed on actual results.”
For the year to date‚ the All-share index is still up 1.5%.
RMB analysts said in a note that the global focus today would return to data‚ with German ZEW investor confidence figures due for release at midday and US existing home sales figures due this afternoon.
Leading Asian markets were mixed‚ with Japan’s Nikkei closing 0.35% weaker while the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index was up 0.17% at 9:29.
On the JSE‚ Anglo American (AGL) was down 1.02% to R266.05‚ SABMiller (SAB) fell 1.01% to R412.30 and Nedbank (NED) slipped 1.07% to R191.32 but short term insurer Santam (SNT) lifted 4.84% to R189.76.
RMB Holdings (RMH) slipped 1.01% to R44.30.
In retail Shoprite (SHP) gave up 1.11% to R180.